The Mind-Control Cat Parasite | Tumble Episode
- tumblepodcast
- Oct 27, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
It’s a cinematically horrifying Halloween 🎃 and there’s a movie-like monster lurking in your kitty litter! 🎬 This week you’ll hear the scary science behind toxoplasma gondii, a mind-controlling cat parasite! 🦠 Biologist Sebastian Lourido helps us tell the true tale of toxoplasma’s quest for cat domination, and what scientists are doing to stop the parasite in its banana-shaped tracks. 🐱
Learn more about Sebastian and his research in our bonus interview extra on Patreon!
🎧 Listen to the Episode
🔎About The Featured Expert
Sebastian Lourido is an associate professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Whitehead Institute. Sebastian and his team research the vulnerabilities of parasites and harness them to help treat infectious diseases.
Here's a TEDxYouth talk where Sebastian discusses his journey into science and what he does now:
Parasite Science
As you learned in the episode, toxoplasma gondii is no joke! Here's a SciShow video that also discusses science's new favorite villain:
You might have been wondering about toxoplasma gondii's banana shape and interesting movement. Here's a video of them moving around:
Believe it or not, there are more parasites like toxoplasma gondii out there. You heard right: more small, mind-controlling parasites are out there! Here's a TED-Ed video that takes a look at them:
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